This March 2018 file photo shows an envelope containing a 2018 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident. Supervisors in Riverside and San Bernardino counties recently voted to join a committee formed to promote a full and accurate count of Inland residents in the 2020 census (AP File Photo).

As debate rages over whether the 2020 Census should include a citizenship question, supervisors in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are joining an effort to sure every Inland resident is counted in the upcoming survey.

The boards of supervisors in both counties recently voted to join a “complete count committee” for the Inland Empire. With technical support from UC Riverside’s Center for Social Innovation, the committee that’s expected to include leaders from local government, business, and nonprofits will try to boost the local response rate in next year’s Census, especially among Inland Empire groups considered difficult to count.

Neither county is committing money to the committee, which is still taking shape and has yet to meet. San Bernardino County supervisors voted to join the committee on Jan. 8 while Riverside County supervisors did the same on Jan. 15.

The committee’s work comes amid a national dispute over the Trump administration’s plans to ask all residents if they are U.S. citizens. Traditionally, the census has counted all people living in the country, not just citizens.

The White House, mainly through Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, has argued the citizenship question is an effort to enforce the Voting Rights Act. But opponents say the question is intended to discourage undocumented immigrants from participating in the census, leading to an undercount that will affect congressional redistricting and how federal money is allocated. More than two dozen states and other plaintiffs are suing to keep the question out of the census.

The Inland committee isn’t dealing with whether citizenship should be a census question. Instead, the focus is on ensuring a full and accurate count of the Inland population, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor at UC Riverside who teaches political science and public policy and is involved with the committee.

Every person who is counted represents $2,000 a year in terms of federal funding, said Ramakrishnan, director of UCR’s Social Innovation Center. Given that the Inland Empire is one of California’s fastest-growing regions, Ramakrishnan said: “We need to redouble our efforts to make sure that people get counted.”

In a report to supervisors, Riverside County staff noted that 2020 Census results will influence redistricting of supervisorial districts and the distribution of more than $76 billion in federal funds for “housing, education, transportation, employment, health care and public policy.”

San Bernardino County was contacted by Ramakrishnan’s center about participating in the committee, according to a county staff report.

“At this point, what the Complete Count Committee will do, and what tasks each member will perform, is in the realm of the center,” said David Wert, county spokesman, via email. “The Board of Supervisors agreed to involve the county in this effort because it appears to be a positive step toward ensuring a complete and accurate count of our region.”

On Jan. 29, Gary McBride, the county’s chief executive officer, plans to ask the board to approve an application to the state for money that will promote participation in the census, Wert said.

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.